Controlling nanodomain morphology of epoxy thermosets templated by poly(caprolactone)-block-poly(dimethylsiloxane)-block-poly(caprolactone) ABA triblock copolymer

Abstract

In this paper, triblock copolymer was incorporated into epoxy to prepare nano thermosets. After studying the compatibility between polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polycaprolactone (PCL) and bisphenol A epoxy resin (E-54), poly(caprolactone)–poly(dimethylsiloxane)–poly(caprolactone) (PCL-b-PDMS-b-PCL) triblock copolymer was incorporated into bisphenol A epoxy resin (E-54) and cured with DDS. A nano structure was formed and the size of the spherical phase became larger with increasing PCL-b-PDMS-b-PCL. According to the fact that TGDDM/PCL was compatible and TGDDM/PDMS was incompatible during the curing reaction, the mechanism of nano structure formation was self-assembly. The factors of influencing nano structure formation were discussed with regard to different curing temperatures and accelerators. Curing kinetics was utilized to study the effect of accelerator on nano structure formation.